When we see records being broken and unprecedented events such as this, the onus is on those who deny any connection to climate change to prove their case. Global warming has fundamentally altered the background conditions that give rise to all weather. In the strictest sense, all weather is now connected to climate change. Kevin Trenberth

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Widespread methane release from thawing Arctic gas hydrates is a major concern, yet the
processes, sources, and fluxes involved remain unconstrained. We present geophysical
data documenting a cluster of kilometer-wide craters and mounds from the Barents
Sea floor associated with large-scale methane expulsion. Combined with ice sheet/gas
hydrate modeling, our results indicate that during glaciation, natural gas migrated from
underlying hydrocarbon reservoirs and was sequestered extensively as subglacial gas
hydrates. Upon ice sheet retreat, methane from this hydrate reservoir concentrated in
massive mounds before being abruptly released to form craters. We propose that these
processes were likely widespread across past glaciated petroleum provinces and that they
also provide an analog for the potential future destabilization of subglacial gas hydrate
reservoirs beneath contemporary ice sheets.